


Unwilling Participant

by wallstoothin



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akira needs a hug, Bullying, Gen, It’s has cause Haru gonna cut em off, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Phantom Thieves of Hearts as Family, Shoe lockers, Shujin Academy (Persona 5), Someone hug my baby please, and some help, exploring what could have been if some of the students has balls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27337999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wallstoothin/pseuds/wallstoothin
Summary: Akira Kurusu has the displeasure of being the Unwilling participant as the school's punching bag.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	1. Shoe Locker

“Ugh,” Morgana cried out. “Why do you have your stinky shoes in the bag, can’t you put it in the locker like everyone else.” 

He felt bad for Mona, he really did. From all the running he’s been doing both inside and outside the metaverse, his feet probably don't smell the best and because of that, his shoes. But he doesn’t want to assault his friend’s sensitive nose with an air freshener stuffed in his bag. He did have some extra plastic bags in his room. Maybe, he can spray some perfume on it and use it as a bag for his shoes. That way, not only would the smell just stick to the bag but his book would probably have less dirt stuck between the pages.

As for the other question. Akira watched as a roach crawl out from one of the lockers and shivers. No.

Back in elementary school, Akira used to be bullied a lot as a kid. It was for a lot of reason, his hair is too girly, he’s a nerd, he doesn’t have the newest game that everyone is raving on about. It was whatever the class leader decided is laughable. He knew all the tricks that they had by 4th grade, and he knew the best way to avoid them. Come to school early, never look too far from your belonging. Always carry your stuff and bring the right cleaning tools. As a teenager in high school that list increased due to the fact that high schoolers have money. 

Still,

He felt bad for Morgana. When he first came into the school late on his first day and heard the whispers from the crowd of students huddle together. He knew what to expect. But Morgana didn’t. He don’t know the cruelty of humans and the extent they are willing to go for something so small. He seen glimpse of the extreme in palaces, true. But small everyday things that people did that Mementos and the stupid app does not reconize as distorted. Maybe because Mementos is a reflection of everyone’s cognition. “Everyone’s palace.” Morgana has called it. And if the public don’t recognize school bullying as being distorted , as something that is wrong and unnatural, unless a certain point is reached where the bullying takes over a person. They won’t have a shadow. 

That’s why the kid across from him, even if he spots him throwing his half eaten sandwich in his locker won’t have a shadow. Cause at the end of the day. He is still a normal kid who has a family, friends and a normal life to live. 

Akira looked back at his locker, probably infested with a new colony of ants after his classmates has thrown in the sandwich. He doesn’t go near it, always walking through a path a lockers reserved for another year. He would hate to imagine what his locker would smell like. 

But his teammates apparently did. 

“What do you boys even put in your shoe locker.” Panther pointed out after another infiltration.

“Shoes, duh!” Skull unhelpfully replied.

“Yeah, but what about Joker.” 

Joker hummed, pretending to ignore the conversation by focusing on driving. 

“There’s bugs crawling out of your locker Joker. Plus I’m pretty sure you got mold growing on it too.”

“Mold?” Fox asked. “There was always mold somewhere in the atelier, It would not be surprising if there was some in a locker.”

This conversation was going out of control as soon as Panther asked the question. Fox just made it worse. 

“I agree.” Queen added. “You should really clean it Joker, not only for hygiene purposes, but in case the school decides to take drastic action.”

Can the school even do that?

That evening he texted Kawakami and confirmed Queen’s warning.

He needs to clean the locker. Before heading back home, he stopped by the pharmacy and bought two bags full of cleaning products. He ignore the cries of his wallet for now. 

The school building opened up at seven, although school starts an hour and a half. During the period in between teachers comes in and set up their class for the days and sports club start their morning training to prepare for whatever tournament they have. The main entrance is empty. The only one worth noticing is Makoto who occasionally has to deal with student council work in the morning. From what he knows Makato doesn't come early on tuesdays. Which is today.

He brings his supplies and drops them on the floor. He made sure to wear his well worn uniform compared to his cleaner pair. Akira even made sure to leave Morgana back at home. He doesn’t need to be traumatized by whatever culture is growing in the locker. He pull his sleeves back and put on some gloves. He was tempted to put on a mask but that was too much. The first thing he took care of was the moldy sandwich. It was already covered with all sorts of bugs and no longer look anything like it did originally. He quickly tossed that in the garbage bag and promised to take an extra long bath to reward himself later. Next was the notes stuck to the walls via mold and other sticky substances that the students decides to put in there. 

He flinched as his hand come in contact with something shard. He quickly pulled back, accidentally dragging some of the notes to the ground. He looked down and stare at the offending object in question-thumbtacks, of course. It was stupid of him to not expect anything like that. He looked back at his hands. The thumbtack ripped through the cheap plastic of the gloves and pierce his skin. He can already start to see the blood gathering on his finger. The best thing to do at the moment is to take a break and head to the nurse to clean and bandage the wound before he comes in contact with the mold. But he already wasted so much time. If he wanted to clean before anyone else pass through the front door, then he can’t spend it on something stupid such as a small bandage break. 

He keeps cleaning. Eventually his injured fingers come in contact with some of the cleaning products. It stings, but he felt worse somewhere else. After thirty minutes of intense scrubbing. His shoe locker was finally clean. He was worried that the mold would permanently discolor the locker but it turns out it didn’t. He looked down at the now full trash bag in his left hand. It smelt horrible and it was starting to leak strange liquid to the floor. He need to hurry and dispose of this biohazard before it ruins someone else’s day.

His locker remained clean for at least three days before it became filled with notes. Just like before, Akira would leave Morgana at home and come to school early to clean it. He really didn’t need a lecture from Queen on top of everything else. The bag was barely full this time. The weight of papers is much lighter than a bunch of trash and moldy food. He knew that reading them would cause more harm than good. It was all written with the purpose to hurt him after all, but still. Akira stuffed it in his bag. He still wants to know what his classmates’ unfiltered thought about him is. 


	2. Belonging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira is very protective of what is his.

Shujin, as big as a school they are and their high budget, does not have a pool. Everyday, Akira finds himself being more and more grateful for this fact. It still doesn’t change the fact that he still has mandatory gym class to participate in. No one but him keeps an extra lock in his bag. It was unfair, but it was not like Akira had any say in this matter.

Gym routine is the same as ever, he sat in his desk while everyone file out of the classroom, he ignore all of the stares and the whispers as he wait for the last person to leave (“I’m alright Mishima don’t worry about it”) once that last person leaves he would open his desk and tell Morgana to take a hike. Morgana would agree since there was nothing to do for the next hour. 

Once he confirms that his friend is gone he would then pull out a thin string from his bag and cut a large strand that’s right around his height. He would then tie one of the bag handle onto the string and toss the bag upward. If he’s lucky he’ll be able to complete this task in one go which seems to be the case today. With his bag nesting nicely on top of one of the lights, and the string sitting on his desk, Akira left for gym class satisfied. 

Today was independent basketball drills day which he is very grateful for, the last thing he needs is to “accidentally” get tackled on the floor or forced to the sideline because “there’s no extra spot on the team and left to hold a mini whiteboard on his lap as a scorekeeper. Once gym class was over-compare to his classmate who dragged their feet dreading for the next class and unlike his earlier self who did not want to leave for gym. Akira was the first to go back. He would speed walk his way to the classroom and check his desk to confirm Morgana’s return. Today he’s taking an early nap. Lucky him. 

Akira would then pull on the string holding his bag and held out his arm as it drops. The first time he did this back in middle school. He would often pull too hard and end up with all of his stuff all over the floor. He remembered scrambling all over the classroom trying to get everything before everyone would come back and always end up losing a pencil or two.

Now that he thinks about it. His actions of always wanting to be in the classroom alone should have set off some alarm bells in his classmates’ head. To them, he is the transfer student from hell who did all sorts of horrible things in the past and continues the unlawful rampage in the city. Shouldn’t they take more care of their stuff like he does? There are no rumors going around of what Akira did when he’s alone in the classroom, but then again his class averaged at around 62 during the last test. Maybe he put too much faith in their brains. 

Speaking of being brainless. Akira looks down at his bag currently filled with infiltration equipment and all sorts of phantom thieves related issues. Didn’t he get bag checked on the first day of school? What if he gets into some sort of trouble and was forced to give up his bag? Not only would that be a danger to him and his probation but his friends whom most of the school has often been seen with might get in trouble too. 

The next day Akira left the cafe earlier carrying an extra bag. 

“Hey Joker? What’s in there?” Morgana asked. Right, Morgana went to sleep early last night and had no idea that Akira was shoving things into a cheap bag he bought on the way home.

“Gear.” he replied.

“Huh? Metaverse gear?” Morgana then tries to push his little cat body out of his school bag and into the new one. Akira pushed him back and reminded himself to always double check to see if Morgana is in the right bag. The last thing he needs is for his friend to be locked away. “Are we going into the Metaverse now? Is there an emergency request we need to take.”

Akira shook his head.

“There’s no emergency request?”

“We’re not going to the metaverse.” He corrected. “I just needed to stop by something by the station.”

The Sangenjaya’s paid train lockers are rarely used by the local residents. Instead, tourist or busy buyers would use it for easier shopping without the trouble of holding too many things at once. Akira even seen office workers use it from time to time as well. To use the locker everyday for a long period of time is going to cost heavy on his already abused wallet. But as long as he pick up a few extra shift at the convenience store then everything should be alright. 

Akira slammed the locker door shut and used his train card to lock it up.

Everything was ok now. His friends are safe, he won’t make such a careless mistake anymore.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a plan for this fic, but I forgot it. If anyone has any suggestion please let me know, I would love to hear it. This chapter is based on all the things our school made us do. We had to go through metal detector and bring our own locks to the gym every year hundreds of dollars worth of stuff get stolen.

**Author's Note:**

> Playing around with the idea of bullying in Japan. If anyone have any ideas please let me know I would love to hear it. 
> 
> I'm also on tumblr with the same username and I occasionally post whatever my brain have to say about Persona.


End file.
